Collagen-induced arthritis development requires alpha beta T cells but not gamma delta T cells: studies with T cell-deficient (TCR mutant) mice
Collagen type II (CII)-induced arthritis (CIA) in mice is a model for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in which the role of T lymphocytes remains controversial. To clarify this, we have bred a targeted gene deletion of TCR beta or delta loci into two mouse strains susceptible to CIA, the B10.Q and DBA/1 strains. The TCRbeta-/- mice lacked alphabeta T cells, which was compensated by an expansion of B cell